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Bootable USB drive guide

So you've made it bootable and you've got some useful files and utilities on the drive now. The last step is going into the motherboard bios (CMOS setup) and making the usb drive the first boot device. This will differ from bios to bios, but most of you should be able to figure it out. Here is what I have to do:

Insert the USB drive into a USB port if it isn't there already. Power on or reboot the computer and enter the bios.

Go to "Advanced BIOS Features"

Go to "Hard Disk Boot Priority"

USB drive at Priority 5 (lowest)

Here you can see that my usb drive is at the bottom of the priority list (number 5) so I press [PageUp] a few times to get it to the top of the list:

USB drive at Priority 1 (Highest)

Save and Exit the bios. This resets the computer and, if you set the bios up correctly, it will boot from the usb drive and you should get a DOS prompt with a C:>\

C: should now be your usb drive. You can confirm this by typing dir and seeing if the files and folders are the ones that you put on the drive earlier.

Now you can use the programs on the disk exactly as if you had just booted from a floppy drive!

(Note: I have to remove the USB drive to boot my computer normally, and when I want to boot from the USB drive again, I have to go through the BIOS to change the priority each time. Luckily it only takes a few seconds and I find it a lot less hassle than alternative bootable media)

Conclusions

Now you are only limited by the size of your usb drive as to how many bios files and utilities you decide to store on the drive! No more burning CDs, no more messing about with floppy drives, no more searching for that Memtest CD you burnt months ago!

Pros

Put all your bioses and utilities on one usb drive

No floppy drive? No optical drives? No problem!

Create a set of bios files to easily swap and test different settings and overclocks

You can still use the drive for general storage

Cons

You may have to enter the bios each time you want to boot from the usb drive